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Sound Gardens Save Salmon

By Lance Winecka

As a salmon restoration professional, a local gardener, and a parent, I am excited to know that more local community efforts are being made to promote clean water for both people and salmon in Puget Sound. It is refreshing to hear about several newer programs that instill a sense of personal responsibility for our water quality. However, I think that many people may become overwhelmed because they do not know where to start or what they can do to actually make a significant difference. If you are in doubt of your own environmental footprint, please check out your favorite local conservation group and ask if they are hosting any landowner "natural lawn or garden" educational workshops. If they are not, please branch out and find a group that offers you some alternatives.

Instilling a personal connection and responsibility for the environment in our children may be one of our most fun and important tasks as parents. Families can choose to attend workshops this spring that teach kids how to reduce their environmental impacts simply by changing a few habits at home. One of my favorite "green" activities is getting kids to work outside with their parents in the organic family garden. It can be exciting and rewarding for kids to help plan and plant a vegetable garden. You can also plant "kid only" areas with easily maintained plants. Gardening is directly connected to growing seasons and science. Your young gardener will undoubtedly ask you difficult questions that will be very rewarding for you to answer and discuss.

There are proven organic gardening methods that reduce our dependence on synthetic fertilizers; many of them work well in our region. Together, kids and parents can research and select organic alternatives to harsh chemical treatments. You can also target smaller areas of the garden by teaching more energetic children to weed by hand. Relatively simple ongoing yard activities such as reduction in watering, composting yard waste, mulching grass clippings, maintaining worm bins, and feeding chickens appropriate scraps, are all things that can be done at the smallest of scale by anyone interested in reducing their footprint. Your child will soon become an expert and remind you to conserve resources. Even my three-year-old son, Tristan, continually reminds his salmon biologist parents to "save enough water for the whales and fish." My son will also eat many more vegetables directly out of the garden than he will once they are on the kitchen table. So with a little extra effort each spring, you can share an excellent bonding experience with your family and grow stronger from fresh and healthy vegetables grown right from your own garden. One of my greatest rewards as a gardener is working in the yard with my family on a nice spring or summer weekend.

While organic gardening practices are great for people and the environment, they also can have a positive impact on salmon. Water quality and quantity are a significant factor in the life history needs of many fish. All land parcels and gardens have an impact on water quality or quantity. Rainwater either infiltrates into ground water or is diverted as surface water into local and regional water bodies. If rainwater runoff is contaminated by harsh fertilizers, it can carry toxins into places frequented by both fish and people. By using organic products in your home garden or lawn, people, salmon, and other aquatic creatures will undoubtedly benefit from our kinder, more ecological approach to garden maintenance. If you choose to garden organically, rejoice in your newfound commitment to keep our kids and fish populations a little healthier — because we all need clean water to survive.

Lance Winecka is the Executive Director of the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group.


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Updated 2015/01/07 21:14:22